20 February 2013

300,000 Baptisms

We met a young man named Eric this week, who had come to the temple to receive his endowment prior to leaving for his mission in the Mexico City Northwest mission. He was not new to the temple. From the time he was eligible at 12 years old, he has been coming frequently, very frequently, on his own, to perform baptisms and confirmations for (are you sitting down) over 300,000 people, performing as many as 2000 baptisms in one day. He did this under significant opposition. He comes from a broken family. His siblings and parents have been non-exemplary, to put it mildly. He attended church alone all those years, but was nurtured by a loving member of the temple worker staff, who took this fellow under his wing early on and gave him love. He was also nurtured by a kind bishop and loving ward members, who saw in him great faith and a desire to improve his situation. Eric had already begun his mission some years ago; however, since his announcement to serve a mission and engaging in those preparations, some of his siblings and his mother have begun to soften toward the church. Good people have involved them directly, since Eric has been too ashamed to mention his difficulties at home. Perhaps they are recognizing the great contribution he has made to their family and are now aware of some of the things he has done on his own. Can you imagine his heavenly reunion with all those people on the other side! We wish we could follow him to the mission field and watch him teach. Powerful stuff!

We are re-examining the math here in that during his time of eligibility he would have had to do 1000 a week. According the workers, the number is good, but for us, highly unlikely. However, 10 % of that would even be stupendous service by a young man.